Harrietween
by Exotos135
Summary: After Lucy discovers a disturbing bit about great grandma Harriet's past, a chain reaction begins that will lead Lucy to make the ultimate decision: Will she go back to the occultism she likes, and be the stereotypical goth image, or will she quit it, and become a goth unlike any other?
1. A Secret

**Happy October 1st, everybody! The month of spookness! The month of fear! The month where I will give a barely used character some action!**

 **This character is Great Grandma Harriet, from "Spell It Out", the Lucy-centric episode.**

 **Not much else to say, so, let's move on!**

* * *

At the attic of the infamous Loud house, the deadpan, emo-like daughter of the household, Lucy Loud, was checking some of the boxes in search for something. And considering her personality, it was probably either something creepy, one of her dozen rejected poems, or even a mix of both.

"Ugh, come on, I shouldn't be having much trouble finding something here," the goth quietly complained. "I mean, I know the boxes are filled with a lot of junk, but the boxes on my side are supposed to be less full than all the other ones."

And then she took out a box in the middle of a pile of them, causing them to fall right on top of her. However, all the girl said in return was a deadpan "ouch."

And luckily for her, she did manage to find what she was looking for: a locket of great grandma Harriet.

"Alright, now I can summon great grandmother and ask her if she can do something about Lori's malfunctioning phone," Lucy stated. "Whether it's lifting the curse, or giving me tips on how to survive Lori's whining."

And then, she noticed something else inside the box: A family picture book, which contained pictures of the Louds' ancestors. So of course, the girl just had to open it and check it out, with the very first photo she saw being that of her great grandma Harriet...

As a young girl.

Then, she went on to her great grandfather... Who was an adult man. And subsequents pictures went on until he was an old man. But even as he aged, Harriet didn't seem to do so. She resembled a young Lucy lookalike in all her photos...

And then, she stopped appearing in photos, not having aged one bit.

Which peeked Lucy's curiosity.

So, taking the locket and family picture book with her, Lucy walked straight to her parents' room, and knocked the door three times. It wasn't long before Rita and Lynn Sr. answered, but judging from their surprised reaction, this wasn't something they were used to.

"Oh hi, Lucy," Rita nervously greeted. "What do you need?"

"Mom, I was checking the attic, and I found several pictures of Great Grandma Harriet," Lucy said, with some subtle discomfort in her tone. "But none of them depict her as an adult or anything. She always looks like my predecessor, in the most literal way possible."

Lucy looked at the ground with "Why don't we have any pictures of Great Grandma Harriet as an adult?"

Rita and Lynn Sr exchanged worried looks, and promptly scratched the back of their heads as Rita said:

"Well... Lucy..."

Literally mere seconds later, Lucy barged into her and Lynn's bedroom just as the athlete was in the middle of some weight lifting.

"Oh hi, Lucy, what are you doing here?" Lynn casually greeted. "You usually stay out of the room whenever I start my exercising-"

Suddenly, Lucy kicked the weights away like a ninja, and promptly yelled at the jock:

"Get out of the room! I need to contact Great Grandma Harriet, right now!"

Naturally, the athlete wasn't happy about being given orders.

"Why? What's so important that-?"

Suddenly, Lucy shot a furious, glowing glare at her older sister, before yelling at the top of her lungs:

"I said get out!"

Lynn, not wanting to inquire her sister's wrath any more, ran out of the room and shouted:

"Lucy got emotional! Repeat, Lucy got emotional!"

And the rest of the family soon ran to the bunker, with Lisa taking the chance to scold Lynn, "What did you do this time!?"

"I did and regret nothing!"

And back at Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, the goth put down Harriet's locket, and promptly did a ridiculously complex summoning ritual that was guaranteed to work every time:

She extended her arms forward and shouted, "Harriet, I need to talk to you!"

A massive pillar of light burst out of the locket, and soon afterwards, the spirit of Great Grandma Harriet materialized.

See? It works every time!

"Great Grandma Harriet, greetings and thanks for answering my call," Lucy told the spirit of her deceased great grandma, which of course looked just like in the picture. "I'm so sorry I had to call you so suddenly-"

"And you most definitely should be: I was in the middle of doing absolutely nothing in the afterlife, since there was nothing good on the afterTV, and the afternet somehow doesn't want to connect to my aftercomputer," Harriet replied with a deadpan tone that was either sarcastic, or trying to sound like it. "Clearly, I'd rather be back in my afterhouse rather than with my dear great grandchildren."

"...Was that supposed to be one of your famous sarcasm lessons?" Lucy asked in confusion. "Look, I'm all up for a lesson right now, but can we do it after we discuss something more important?"

"Of course, but first, why did you call me in the first place?" Harriet inquired. "After all, you know that if there's one thing that spirits hate the most, is to be called back to the living world without a justification."

"Well... I was going through the attic, I found several pictures of you... As a kid," Lucy answered, twiddling her fingers and looking at the ground with worry. "And... I discovered a terrible secret about you."

"A terrible secret about me..." Harriet repeated, only to gasp in shock once she thought about it. "Did you figure out I'm the one who's been haunting Lorraine's phone so it doesn't turn on no matter how hard she tries?!"

"So that's why Lori's been having an absolute nightmare trying to get that thing to work," Lucy sighed. "Speaking of which, could you please lift up the curse, now that you've revealed it?"

"Oh no, not until she finally decides to focus on something other than her stupid phone!" Harriet snapped, folding her fingers. "I've waited far too long for that selfish little brat to take her eyes off that dang miniature screen, if she's not going to do that on her own, then she'll do it by force!"

"Right, I forgot how much you don't like "phone-holics" like Lori," Lucy shook her head. "Anyway, no, the secret isn't so much about what you did, as it is about something related to you... Which brings up two questions in my mind, in particular."

Harriet flinched and floated down to the ground. "I can't help but think I already know what you're going to ask."

Lucy took a deep breath, and with great hesitation, she asked:

"Were you really my age when you gave birth to... Whoever you gave birth to? And did you really die at childbirth?"

Harriet clutched her chest and took several deep breaths before walking up to Lucy and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Lucy, please sit down. There's a lot we need to talk about."

The young goth obliged, with her great grandmother's spirit sitting right next to her before asking:

"Well, do you know about your great grandfather?"

"Yeah, I saw pictures of him too, but he either looked like a man, or an old, lonely man," Lucy answered, with slight worry. "And what's weirder is that you're only seen with him when he's a young man."

"I was barely a child when I met and fell in love with him," Harriet explained, shaking her head in melancholy. "His pictures as an old man came after I had long... passed away."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "How did you manage to fall in love with a man much older than you?"

"Well, I guess you could say love works in mysterious ways," Harriet took out her tongue and gently hit herself in the head. "Either that, or I was a bit of a weirdo!"

"Something tells me the latter option is more likely," Lucy sighed. "Anyhow, you fell in love with a man that was much older than you? How did that even happen?"

"Again, love works in mysterious ways, my dear Lucy," Harriet put a hand on her cheek and added with a dreamy tone, "I just met your great grandfather one day, and I was captivated by his strong sense of justice, his honesty, and his general trustworthy nature. I assume that sounds familiar to you?"

"Lincoln... I guess he got those traits from great grandpa, huh?"

"Yeah... So anyway, I walked up to him one day and I confessed my love for him. Not in public, of course, 'cause that would've brought way too much unwanted attention to both of us. So I confessed in the most romantic way I knew: In the middle of the moonlight, on my knees, while beaming the happiest smile I could mutter."

Even though she normally would be disgusted with such a romantic description, Lucy couldn't help but blush and go "aww" at how her great grandmother confessed. "And what did he say in response?"

Harriet pulled no punches:

"He rejected me on the spot."

In that instant, all warm feelings Lucy had felt vanished and were replaced with both fear and shock. Her Great grandfather rejected her great grandmother on the spot? In the middle of such a romantic scene? Yes, him accepting would've been awkward, but right now, Lucy couldn't help but wonder how devastated Harriet felt at that moment.

"B-B-But, you still gave birth to grandpa, or grandma, or whoever you gave birth to, right?!" Lucy asked, sounding unnaturally panicked. "Certainly you two worked these things out, right?!"

Harriet let out a little giggle, but this wasn't a giggle of happiness.

"Yes... And no."

Lucy couldn't help but grow even more worried. "What do you mean by that? Is it yes or no?! Pick only one answer, please!"

"I'm picking a single answer, which is a mix between the two options you gave me," Harriet stated. "I say yes in that we did work these things out... But I also say no because... Well, do you really want to know?"

Lucy nodded desperately, and Harriet sighed before she explained thus:

"I forced things to work out."

Then, Harriet grabbed Lucy's head and made her see a memory. Firstly, Harriet was on top of her bed, crying her heart out into her pillow.

"After I was rejected, I felt horrible. I felt like my love wasn't returned, but since I also felt that I could never love another man like him, or love another man at all, I felt like I needed to do something, anything, to try and get your great grandfather's love... And then, I went to occultism."

The next memory showed Harriet, on her knees, in front of what seemed to be some sort of supernatural being.

"I summoned a demon from the supernatural world, and using their help, I captured your great grandfather and... Well, let's just say I didn't let him leave until she put your grandparent inside me."

The memory after that showed Harriet, with a pregnant belly, sitting alone in her room once more.

"My parents found out, your great grandparents found out, and there was a large scandal that was soon wrapped up and left to be forgotten. I was grounded for years and forced to give birth to the baby, while your great grandfather, despite wanting to help me deliver, couldn't manage to spend more than a half hour with me every day for the next nine months."

And the final memory showed Harriet, on her deathbed, with a baby crying in the background.

"When I gave birth, however, the shock, pain, and everything else that I felt was so grand, that my poor little body couldn't take it. I couldn't take it. And when I realized I was practically a goner, I asked your great grandfather to take care of my child. And so he did, and I passed away, not with genuine joy, but joy that masked a great regret."

Harriet released her hand from Lucy's shoulder, and as the goth started to cry from what she saw, she turned around and saw Great Grandma Harriet's spirit crying as well. And then the spirit said:

"That wasn't the only thing I regretted, of course. When people deal with occultism, a single spells can bring forth dozens of regrets. And I did several spells back when I was alive... bringing forth regrets that I've left unfinished... Possibly forever, since my time during each summoning is so short."

The goth looked away, only to be caught off-guard when her great grandmother's spirit called:

"Lucy?"

The gothic poet turned around, and saw Harriet grab her hand with her own, right before she gave her a simple request:

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you won't repeat the same mistakes I did when I was your age. I already feel bad that I jumped the gun so early in my life. I'd be devastated if you wound up repeating my mistakes."

"I-I promise I won't do it!" Lucy exclaimed, sounding unnaturally emotional. "I assure you that no matter what happens, even if I fall in love with an older guy, even if I feel tempted to do the deed with him, I'm not going to give in, nor go so far as to summon a demon to help me."

Harriet just smiled, and the duo shared one last hug before Harriet vanished back into the afterlife, leaving Lucy to hug herself in an attempt to get some comfort. And then Lynn walked back into the room.

"Hey, Lucy, everybody sent me here to check up on you, since-" the athlete said, only to panic when she saw her younger sister crying. "Oh my goodness, Lucy! What happened?!"

With a weak, shivering tone, Lucy whimpered:

"I contacted great grandma Harriet... And she confirmed the horrible thing mom and dad told me..."

Lynn soon went to Lucy's side and helped her get. "Okay, let's not think about that for now. Let's look for something that can calm you down."

And as the duo went to the door, Lucy glanced back to her bed, and remembering she had some stuff about occultism in there, she begun a conversation with Lynn:

"Hey, Lynn?"

"Lucy, we can talk about what you heard from Harriet later-"

"I don't want to talk about that... Not for a long while..."

"That's good to know, but in that case, what do you want?"

"Could you... Help me get rid of some spell books and cursed stuff I got in my side of the room?"

"I guess I could help you get rid of some of that stuff, but why?"

Lucy sniffed, and remembering the promise she just made, honestly answered:

"I'm going to take a break from occultism. A very long break."


	2. A Game

**Yep, this is a full story now! As for why? Because Halloween!**

 **Anyway, this chapter focuses more on Lynn and Harriet than Lucy, but that's mostly to serve as a little calming chapter after last chapter's... revelation. Next chapter will be back to being Lucy-centric, don't worry.**

 **In fact, next chapter, a certain someone will come to Lucy's aid.**

 **So anyway, let's move on!**

* * *

At Lynn's bedroom, the athlete was doing something very usual for her kind: Exercising, by lifting weights. And she continued to do so, at least until a familiar spirit flew through the wall and frightened her by her mere presence.

This spirit, of course, was Great Grandma Harriet.

"Oh hi, Great Grandma Harriet," Lynn nervously greeted, forcing a smile on her face. "What brings you here, to my room?"

"Can't a deceased great grandmother visit her descendant without previous warning?" Harriet inquired, twirling her hair a bit. "I like to surprise you and everything, you know? And besides, I'm here for our usual monthly sport game."

"Oh, right, I forgot that was a thing," Lynn continued to exercise. "Now listen up, I'm not in the mood to play any games with you, so-"

"Aw, what's the matter?" Harriet spoke with a mocking tone, while she harshly pinched Lynn's cheeks. "Is the pretty little insecure Lynn scared that she's going to lose? Do you want me to possess some of Lucy's toys so you can get an easy victory? Or are you scared you'd lose against them too?"

" _I forgot how great grandma Harriet could be quite the jerk,_ " Lynn thought before slapping her great grandmother's spirit's hands away. "No, I'm not scared about that, I just don't see the point in playing dodgeball with you. After all, aren't spirits immaterial or something? The ball would just go right through you."

"Huh, so you're smarter than when we last met! Good to know you're not as much of an idiot as before," Harriet stated, putting her hands on her hips. "Too bad you're still a scaredy little cat when you have a minimal chance of losing."

"That's not true! I'm like that regardless of my chances to lose!" Lynn snapped, only to correct herself when she saw Harriet's smug grin. "I mean, I don't want to do it, period!"

Harriet folded her arms behind her back and turned her back against Lynn. "Hmph, you really are like your father, Junior."

Upon hearing the spirit call her "Junior", Lynn stopped her exercising and turned around with a furious look. "What did you call me?"

"Junior, because that's what you are," Harriet turned back to the jock and flashed a smug, mocking smirk. "You're not a child of Lynn Sr., you're just a miniature female version of him! My grandchild!"

And as Harriet continued with her mocking description, Lynn gritted her teeth, feeling her rage build up inside her body.

"Rather than being a determined athlete with a healthy ego, you're just a confused, lost child who'd rather never try anything and possibly fail, then try, give it your best, and be proud of what you did! Only difference being that you're so much of a scaredy brat, that you will refuse any event you have a chance to lose, regardless of how minimal that is!"

The spirit flew down and met Lynn face-to-face.

"And the only way you can prove me wrong, is accepting my challenge."

The jock took a deep breath and calmed down before answering:

"You know? The thing that bothers me the most is not the fact that you insulted me right on my face. No, it's the fact that you do this trick every year..."

Forming a fist with her hand, Lynn proclaimed:

"And it works every dang time! You know what?! I accept your challenge! I'll prove to you that I'm not a coward, nor a miniature version of my father!"

Harriet smirked, and next thing the girls knew, they were out in the backyard, with several balls on the ground.

"Normal rules apply, right?" Lynn asked.

"One hit, and you're out," Harriet smugly explained. "The first one of us who gets a hit on the other, wins."

The jock narrowed her eyes. "And your body's material, right?"

Harriet reached for a dodgeball, and successfully grabbed, proving that she was indeed going material for this match.

"Okay then," Lynn smiled. "Let the dodgeball match-"

Suddenly, Harriet surrounded several balls with grey energy and levitated them, turning Lynn's confident smile into a scared frown as the spirit finished:

"Begin!"

Lynn instinctively dodged right away as several dodgeballs were thrown at her way, with Harriet laughing like a maniac from an old cartoon as she swung her arms like wheels, throwing ball after ball at an inhuman speed. Fittingly enough.

When Lynn caught her breath and the balls stopped flying at her, Lynn threw her ball at Harriet, who simply jumped out of the way before throwing half a dozen balls at the jock, who narrowly dodged each and every one of them.

"Impressive, you're still standing," Harriet smirked. "Specially considering that last time we fought, you lost almost immediately!"

"Well, I had a lot of time to get better at this game," Lynn returned the smirk. "After figuring out how your cheating tactics work!"

"Bah, don't speak as if you didn't use cheating yourself," Harriet rolled her eyes.

Steam blew out of Lynn's nostrils as she let out the sound a bull does when it gets angry, and ran towards Harriet, who laughed out loud as she gathered as many dodgeball as she could, then merged them together into a giant wave of dodgeballs, which Lynn only managed to notice when she was so close, it was all but inevitable that the wave would hit her.

And so, Harriet snapped her fingers, and the wave fell on Lynn, who fruitlessly tried to run away before being seemingly engulfed by the wave.

"I guess that means I win!" Harriet chirped. "Harriet 9, Lynn 0!"

Suddenly, the wave of dodgeballs shook as Lynn smugly stated:

"Think again!"

Next thing Harriet knew, Lynn jumped out of the wave, with her sole ball protecting her from the other dodgeballs as she fell and landed right in front of Harriet.

"What?! How is that possible?!" the spirit complained, shivering in awe. "I just defeated in an over the top manner, how did you survive that?!"

"Elementary, dear Harriet, it's all thanks to the legendary dumb luck of the Loud family!" Lynn boasted as she prepared to throw her dodgeball at the spirit. "Any last words before I win?"

Harriet lowered her arms and looked at the ground in apparent defeat.

"Lynn, I'm so sorry..."

Suddenly, the spirit vanished, and her voice came from behind Lynn:

"For playing you like a total fool!"

The athlete turned around, and saw Harriet throw a dodgeball at her so fast, she wasn't able to dodge in time, causing her to get hit by the ball right in the face, cementing Harriet's victory. And as the athlete hit the ground and the ball bounced off elsewhere, Harriet did a little victory dance in the sky, which admittedly brought a little smile to Lynn's face. She was upset about losing, of course, but then again, she expected that in the first place.

"Hehehe, the classic decoy tactic, huh?" Lynn chuckled. "If I had known earlier that you were going to pull that off, I would've tried my hardest."

"You would've lost either way," Harriet pointed out.

"Yeah, like last year," Lynn looked at the ground as her smile slowly turned into a frown. "And the year before that... And the year before that one too..."

Naturally, it wasn't long before Harriet noticed her great grandniece started to grow upset. And of course, an upset Lynn was one of the worst types of Lynn you could deal with, next to a sore loser Lynn, sore winner Lynn, and "Ate-way-too-many-meatballs-for-her-own-good" Lynn.

So the spirit flew down and spoke:

"Lynn, do you remember why I always beat the stuffing out of you in dodgeball every year?"

The jock looked away.

"Because there's one lesson as an athlete that you must always keep in mind, and never undermine," Harriet stated, with Luan shouting "hey, that rhymed!" far away. "That lesson is to remember that no matter how good you are, and no matter how hard you try to be the best, there will always be someone much stronger, much faster, and generally just much better than you at something."

Lynn closed her eyes. "Do you really have to remind about that lesson every year, though?"

"Of course I do!" the spirit suddenly snapped. "One of the worst traits Rita's side of the family has is never learning their lessons! Even when you learn a smaller lesson that's related to the one you were supposed to learn, those could always be forgotten in an instant!"

Harriet leaned closer to Lynn and touched her forehead with her pointer finger. "And you and all of your sisters inherited this habit, and you know it!"

"And can do nothing about it," Lynn somberly added.

"Precisely!" Harriet folded her arms. "And that's why I have to beat you up at dodgeball once a year: Otherwise, you'll just forget that you can't be the top dog at everything."

The jock chuckled a bit, then rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath, "Have you been able to find a way to get us to learn our lessons?"

"Nothing yet, sadly enough," the spirit scratched her chin. "Although, I think my spell book had a curse that would make sure you learned your lessons right away, with no way to forget them-"

"Harriet, we both know that you died because of something brought up by a curse, and after you told this to Lucy, she had to take a break from occultism," the jock retorted, narrowing her eyes. "Using curses to make us learn our lessons, is not a good idea."

"I know, but seriously, that's such a big problem in both sides of the family that I honestly think it should be kept as a last resort," Harriet shook her head. "Still, hopefully we can find a way to make all of you learn your lessons, and not bring us to the point we need to use that curse."

Harriet then went back to her serious tone as she asked, "By the way, before I leave, could you promise me something?"

Lynn just nodded.

"Please take care of Lucy, alright?" Harriet requested. "After she discovered that little secret of mine, she's going to need as much support as possible."

The jock smirked and gave the spirit a thumbs up. "Trust me, I'm going to support her 'till the day that I die."

Harriet smiled, almost as if she was proud to an extent, before answering:

"And when that day comes, I'll welcome you to the afterlife with open arms."

With that said and done, Lynn waved goodbye as Harriet flew back to the afterlife, feeling both respect for the spirit, and a newfound determination to support Lucy to the best of her ability.


	3. A Friend

**And here we have the third part of the Harrietween story! Next chapter should likely be the very last chapter, but don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop bringing you some October-themed goodness!**

 **And now, to the chapter! And remember, read and review.**

* * *

It was a relatively normal night at the city of Royal Woods, with the only odd thing about it being that the Loud house wasn't being as loud as it usually was. There wasn't even a bit of noise coming from it, and if a certain spirit's intuition was correct, it had to do with a certain Lucy Loud, who sat alone on her room while the spirit of great grandma Harriet watched from the window...

And then Lynn knocked the door and shouted from outside, "Lucy, are you coming down for dinner?!"

"Uh, tell them to save me some food!" Lucy replied as loudly as she could, which wasn't that loud to begin with. "I need to... think about my life, for a little bit longer!"

"Lucy... why are you acting like this?" Harriet asked, sounding partially worried and partially exasperated. "I understand that discovering my secret would make you need a break from occultism for a while, but I didn't think you'd shut yourself off like this."

Then, as she rested on the tree branch, she scratched her chin in contemplation. "There must be some way I can get you to open up, reveal why you're "thinking about your life" as you just said..."

Suddenly, an idea came to Harriet. Too bad a light bulb didn't pop up in her head, though.

"That's it! I know who to go to!"

 _Meanwhile, at another part of Royal Woods..._

A certain poet by the name of Haiku sat on a bench at her house's backyard, reading some poems and studying them to figure out whether they were good or not. For about five seconds before Harriet burst from the ground and made her presence known, all while Haiku remained stoic at her sight.

"Oh hey, a spirit," Haiku got off the bench. "In what may I help you? And if you don't mind me asking, why do you look like my friend, Lucy?"

"Oh, sweetheart, that's not the question you should be asking," Harriet replied, seemingly trying to put up an affable mask. "The real question's why does my great granddaughter look so much like me!"

"So, you're the Harriet that Lucy has told me about," Haiku remarked, smiling as she continued. "It's a pleasure to-"

"Quiet, child," Harriet hissed, rudely putting her hand on Haiku's mouth. "I have very little patience for your kind, so I'm going to be blunt and I want you to listen, got it?"

Haiku, though angry at the spirit's manners, kept calm and nodded, which prompted Harriet to uncover her mouth.

"Okay, so, a long while ago, my sweet Lucy discovered a disturbing truth about my past. This same truth, and my promise to her I assume, caused her to take a rest from occultism, and I need people to help her get through this difficult time."

"Aw geez, what did she find out?" Haiku frowned.

"If I told you, I fear you may end up leaving occultism as well, and the only people who I find that acceptable for is Lucy," Harriet looked away and parted her bangs, revealing her eyes were a silver so light, they almost looked white. "All I needed was to look at Lucy in the eyes once, and I could immediately feel she was upset, discontent even."

"Well, of course she's going to feel like that!" Haiku stated, narrowing her eyes and her tone growing angrier. "She just found out a terrible secret about you! One that was so terrible, it's made her take a break from occultism!"

"No, this discontent, this pain, this misery... it was different," Harriet looked at the ground as she recalled what she actually saw. "This misery was one that had been brewed for years, while the one she felt after discovering my secret was more brief. However, I have an idea of what this pain could be..."

The spirit turned back to Haiku. "That's where you come in."

"Wait, what?" Haiku flinched. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"You're one of Lucy's friends, and if there's one thing I know about her better than everybody else, is that Lucy will only be her true self around those she considers friends, or trustworthy," Harriet put a hand on Haiku's shoulder. "I need you to support Lucy, to comfort her, so that she will open up to you enough that she will answer one important question."

Haiku raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

Harriet took a deep breath, and bluntly stated:

"Are you happy with your life?"

The goth pushed Harriet away and shivered as the spirit stood still and allowed the poet to calm down. Once she did, she rubbed her arm as she answered, "I-I'm sorry, I thought you were asking that to me, and I just... I acted on instinct..."

"Hmph, of course, I expected you to react like this," Harriet sighed. "And I'm not going to force you to ask her that, but I want you to think about it."

"It's just that the question's too personal," Haiku replied. "I mean, is Lucy really going to answer that question if she opens up enough? What if she refuses to answer?"

Harriet's answer was blunt:

"Simple, that just means you're not as close as you thought you were."

And what she said next was even more blunt:

"But even then, there are only two ways this can go, Helen: You either help my great granddaughter open up about her true feelings, or you simply let her sulk, and let the agony she's feeling eat her alive, until she's nothing more than a husk."

With that said, Harriet's spirit left the physical world, leaving Haiku alone to make her decision.

And next thing she knew, the poet stood outside the Loud house, knocking the door. It wasn't long before Lynn answered the door, earning an accidental punch to the face... which sounded more like a plush toy hitting the floor.

"Oh, sorry Lynn, I didn't see you there," Haiku apologized. "I'm here to see Lucy."

"She's at her room, but good luck getting her to come out of it," Lynn replied, folding her arms and rolling her eyes. "Ever since she found out a particular secret, she's been stuck in there for days."

Haiku just nodded and walked inside, before going all the way to Lucy and Lynn's bedroom. Once there, she slowly opened the door, giving Lucy just enough time to realize who she was.

"Hi, Lucy-"

"Haiku!"

Lucy leaped from her bed onto her poet friend, making her fall backwards onto the floor.

"You don't know how much I was hoping you would come!" the young goth exclaimed, hugging Haiku as hard as she could. "I would've come looking for you earlier, but I was scared that if I came out, my family would bombard me with questions about whether I was doing fine or not! And I know that if there's somebody who can help me get out of this depression, then it's definitely you!"

Haiku raised an eyebrow. "Does this depression have to do with you great grandma Harriet?"

Lucy audibly gasped. "How did you guess it?!"

"I... kinda met her a while ago." Haiku got up and dusted herself. "She asked me to comfort you and help you get through the hard times."

The goth, remembering the last time she met Harriet, got up and sighed before extending her hand towards Haiku and saying:

"Come with me."

Haiku, not really knowing what to expect, grabbed Lucy's hand and was promptly dragged to the attic, allowing Harriet and Lynn to reunite at the girls' bedroom.

"Where's Lucy's friend?" Harriet asked, scanning her surroundings.

"She just came here and Lucy took her to the attic," the jock explained, putting her arms behind her back. "Should we follow them?"

"The question's not "should we follow them?" it's "when we'll follow them?" the spirit replied. "Now get your meaty buttocks moving, girl! I have a room to snoop around!"

And so, the athlete went to the attic as soon as they could, but stopped just before going inside, so as to not alert the goths. As for them? Lucy and Haiku sat on the floor, surrounded by several boxes, which Haiku checked out as Lucy just... looked at the ground.

Noticing this, Haiku sighed. "So, as I said before, I met your great grandmother Harriet-"

"She's a great person, I know," Lucy interrupted, sighing as she tried to keep her composure. "She was the kindest, most supportive, most caring person I had in my family. While everybody else just ignored me or failed to notice me for whatever reason, she not only always noticed me, and always knew where I was, but she apparently could see that there was something up with me."

Lucy looked up to the picture of Harriet, and if her shaking was any indication, she was close to getting emotional.

"I just wish I had known how she was like when she was alive," the poet whimpered, forcing a smile as Haiku went closer to her. "Sure, she... made mistakes... but... that doesn't mean she was a bad person... does it?"

Without warning, Haiku hugged Lucy from behind and brushed her hair, as if to say, "It's okay, you're not alone, everything's okay now", which did manage to calm Lucy down, to an extent, since she was still visibly shaken by the time the hug ended.

"I'm sorry that I brought up such a sensitive question, by the way," Haiku remarked, scratching the back of her head. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay, I actually needed that," Lucy replied with a little, relieved smile. "I really needed to talk to somebody about my true feelings, and, let's be real here, Lynn would probably just shrug it off and tell me to keep it within me."

Though the jock felt hurt from hearing those words, deep down, she couldn't really say anything to her defense: If such a situation happened, she probably would've done the exact thing Lucy thought she would do.

"Why am I so easy to read?" Lynn pondered, rubbing her forehead. "By the way, Harriet, are we seriously just going to stay here and listen to this conversation?"

"No, while you did that, I searched around the house for anything that could help us get Lucy to open up," Harriet put her hands on her hips. "And I may have an idea, but we need to share it with the rest of your sisters."

Lynn tilted her head. "Why?"

"My plan needs all of you to work together in order for it to succeed," the spirit explained. "Now go, gather the other Loudsters as quickly as you can!"

Lynn ran off to tell her sisters and Harriet looked back at the attic, hoping that nothing bad would happen afterwards.

 _Moments later, at the living room..._

Harriet flew up in the sky, while the Loud sisters, minus Lucy of course, sat on the couch. In particular, Leni looked a bit confused.

"Why isn't Lincoln here?" the ditzy fashionista asked. "I thought he was going to help us with the plan, too?"

"Yeah, I thought that too," Luna remarked. "I mean, he and Lucy are very close, wouldn't he want to help her, too?"

"Listen, I may like that boy, as we all do, but after a certain little incident involving Leni and a certain someone-Lori-I'm willing to bet he'll just leave her alone until the problem fixes itself," Harriet explained with a stern tone. "Besides, his plans have a tendency to backfire, and that's the last thing we need right now. What we need, is a foolproof idea, which I just so happen to have!"

"Literally, what are you talking about?" Lori asked.

"I got the perfect plan to bring Lucy back from the well of despair I put her into!" the spirit boasted with a determined grin. "Something that will not only get her back to us, but change her for the better!"

"Change her? But Lucy's, like, fine just the way she is!" Leni replied, clasping her hands. "There's nothing wrong with her!"

"That's just how she seems on the outside, but on the inside, she has a deep-seated pain that needs to be treated," Harriet clutched her chest. "Now, this is the plan..."

And so, the spirit whispered her plan to her descendants, who all smiled and stated in unison:

"Let's do it!"


	4. A Conclusion

**And here we are, everybody! The very final chapter of Harrietween! Just in time for Halloween, too!**

 **Before we go on, I'd like to thank everybody who decided to read and review this story. When I first started to write this story, I was originally going to leave it as a one-shot, with the other chapters serving as another set of one-shots. Then I decided that I needed to make something bigger for the occasion, and here we are! I hope you enjoyed this little story, and I hope you'll come along for future stories as well.**

 **So, without any further ado, let's head into the grand finale of Harrietween!**

* * *

It was the day of Halloween, a day that the one known as Lucy Loud would find most exciting. And yet, she wasn't getting prepared to celebrate the holiday. In fact, she wasn't doing anything at all, she just sat on her bed, looking at the ground with what probably would be a forlorn look, if her hair wasn't covering her eyes. In fact, she only reacted-briefly but still-when Lincoln opened the door and took a peak inside.

"Uh, hi, Lucy," he nervously greeted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes... I think... I guess?" the poet mumbled, only to sigh. "I don't know..."

"Well, if you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me, got it?" Lincoln pointed out.

Lucy meekly nodded, and the boy left the room afterwards. Just in time to hear Lori say:

"This is literally perfect!"

This piqued his interest, and caused the boy to go all the way downstairs and onto the kitchen, where he saw the rest of his sisters-minus Lily-had gathered around the table.

"Wait, hold, like, a moment there," Leni blurted. "What's literally perfect?"

"Okay, Leni, for the tenth-and I hope last-time, let me explain: We're going to pull off the biggest scare Lucy's ever felt in her entire life!" Lori proudly boasted, with Leni just going "oh right" in a casual manner. "And we're going to use something she literally will never see coming!"

"Okay, that sounds nice and everything, but I need to ask," Lincoln said, catching his sisters' attention. "Are you going to try and scare her, which would take a miracle to do, because she keeps surprising us since she continues appearing out of nowhere? You do know that she's going through some hard stuff, right?"

"No, we're doing this as revenge for her refusing to, like, use the bell we gifted her last year!" Leni sternly answered, frowning in annoyance. "I mean, we talked about the whole "not being noticed by anybody" thing that she's so annoyed about, that I gave her a bell as a gift, right? So, she took it, and next time we see her, she's not wearing it! And what's her excuse?"

Luan took off her scrunchie, and pulled her hair in a way to mimic Lucy's hair, and said in a deadpan tone:

"The bell is far too yellow, there's too much emotion coming from this fashion accessory, my dark principles prevent me from accepting it."

"I mean, like, come on! Yellow or black, a bell is a bell! And if you want to get noticed, then you use it to get noticed!" Leni complained as Luan soon put her hair back to normal. "And if she's not even going to use it, why, like, accept it in the first place?!"

Lincoln put a comforting hand on Leni's shoulder. "Well, think about it: You put so much thought in that gift, she probably thought it was a bad idea to reject it right then and there."

"And telling us she wasn't going to use it for a stupid reason after we handed it to her, is somehow the better idea?!" Luna growled, folding her arms. "Listen, Linc, we all love Lucy just in the same way we all love each other. And yes, we do know that scaring her while she's going through the Harriet fiasco is very bad thing to do."

"But we can't let her think she can accept our gifts, and not use them afterwards, and expect no consequence from it!" Lori finished, with the other sisters nodding in agreement. "And besides, she loves Halloween, and Halloween is the season to get scared, so if we scare her, she may remember what she's been missing about the holiday she loves so much!"

"I agree with you, but again, Lucy's very difficult to scare, let alone unnerve," Lincoln pointed out, and once again, the sisters nodded in agreement. "Besides putting anybody she cares about in danger, which would be a horrible idea to do no matter the reasoning, what else can you do to give her the heebie jeebies?"

Lori smirked. "Well, Lincoln, it all starts with something like this!"

The young woman took out a book, but it wasn't any old book. It was a Princess Pony book.

"We've been building an attraction based on this series for literally hours, all just so Lucy can face the worst fear a goth could ever hope to face: Cute and sweet things! We had to take a look at all the books for a while to get everything we could find, and now, we're confident that we managed to create the most disturbing cute thing in the vicinity!"

"I've even made some calculations!" Lisa added as she adjusted her glasses. "And though the margin of failure is there, I'm pretty sure we're going to be able to succeed just fine. At the very least, there's no way Lucy can get out of this without feeling a little bit scared."

By this point, Lincoln was shivering on the inside. Not because he was worried Lucy was going to be scared, but because he knew the attraction was doomed from the start: Lucy was a fan of the Princess Pony series, for whatever reason, so she probably wouldn't be that scared of the whole deal. Annoyed, maybe, since there was a point where something was too much, but scared? Nah.

"A-Are you sure this is such a good idea?" the boy asked, catching his sisters' attention. "I mean, I know Lucy may not seem like it, but she's actually rather fragile-"

"Lincoln, I've lived with Lucy for years," Lynn interrupted, shaking her head. "And if there's one thing I can say to your statement, is that yeah, she's rather fragile in the physical sense, but in the emotional sense, she's tougher than diamonds!"

"Which would still make Lincoln correct," Lisa pointed out, earning a look from the athlete. "Diamonds, despite being the toughest minerals known right now, are also fairly brittle, so a very good strike could potentially break them."

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Are you just suddenly voting against the idea of this attraction?"

"Oh no, not at all, I'm just pointing out an interesting little factoid," Lisa waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Lucy's been scaring us for years, and her current attitude is scaring us even further, besides, she's never been scared herself. It's time for her to know how we feel, for her to feel the full Halloween package-"

"For her to, like, pay for refusing my gift!" Leni chimed in.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Sure, that too."

And as the sisters continued to discuss how they were going to do this attraction thing, Lincoln slowly left the kitchen, before bolting straight to Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, where he saw the goth, oddly fittingly, reading one of the princess pony books.

"Lincoln!" Lucy exclaimed before throwing the book away. "I-I wasn't reading a princess pony book, if that's what you think you saw."

"Good, because our sisters prepared a massive attraction built around the princess pony series!" the boy explained, sending shivers up his sister's spine. "They made it in an effort to try and scare you once and for all!"

"But I'm not scared of that series!" Lucy clasped her hands. "Please tell me you tried to convince me not to do it!"

"I already tried that, but our sisters are just too stubborn!" Lincoln grabbed Lucy's cheeks. "We have no other choice but try make you act like you're legitimately scared of the whole deal!"

"But Lincoln, you know that I always go to Princess Pony in order to take a break from the darkness that is my life," Lucy deadpanly said, but with subtle fear and worry in her tone. "And seeing how we're in the middle of the holiday best known for darkness and creepy stuff, I'm going to need a break very, very soon!"

"We still have to give it a shot-!"

"Mhm..."

The duo flinched and turned around to see Lynn leaning against the door frame.

"Doing something with Lincoln, Lucy?" Lynn asked, raising an eyebrow. "Something like learning about our not-so-secret-anymore creepyatorium and getting ready to try and grown numb to Princess Pony to keep your stoic reputation intact?"

Lincoln and Lucy exchanged surprised looks, utterly amazed at the fact someone like Lynn could make such a deduction. Her passion involved using her body, not her mind, so how was she able to figure out their plan so easily?!

"Well, guess what, mister?" Lynn went to Lucy, grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. "I'm not letting you jeopardize our greatest Halloween scare-a-thon just 'cause none of us want Lucy to be scared into wetting her pants!"

"Lynn, wait-what do you mean?" Lincoln asked, causing the jock to stop. "The part about nobody wanting to scare Lucy?"

"Listen, in Halloween, normal little scares are fine, but scares to the level of Luan's April Fools Day pranks are horrifying," Lynn explained, sighing in slight regret. "And I mention the second part 'cause Lisa's calculations determined that the scare-a-thon's level of creepiness reached Luan's APD pranks. But even if nobody wants to do that, we still need to do it to teach Lucy a lesson."

"L-Lynn, I'm sorry, for everything!" Lucy said, with her usual deadpan tone. "I'm genuinely sorry for not using the bell, please, don't put me through that horrible scare-a-thon!"

"You're just showing me another reason to put you through that stuff: You sound so deadpan in general, it's hard for anybody but me to notice whether you're saying anything with genuine intent or not," Lynn shook her head. "You'll go through the scare-a-thon, and that's final!"

Lucy swallowed her fears as she was dragged along, and a couple moments later, the girl stood in front of the attraction, which took the form of a massive gate... with several pony-themed things sticking out of it. Normally, the girl would either remain calm to not attract attention, or cheer up in other situations, but this time, she was stunned. Lynn, who stood by her side, looked more unimpressed than anything.

"I... honestly don't know how to take this," Lucy blurted.

"Believe me, none of us do either," Lynn patted Lucy's back. "But hey, standing here won't get you to clear this thing any quicker, so get right to it!"

Lynn pushed Lucy hard enough so she would go right inside the attraction, with the door loudly closing behind her. This practically confirmed that yes, Lucy would have to go through the entire thing up to the exit if she wanted to get out.

"Well, I always thought the day would come when I would go into an attraction of the princess pony series," Lucy remarked, only to quickly get sidetracked as she thought about her statement. "Come to think of it, the princess pony series would actually be popular to have one of those, right? Maybe a show that could last for years too... and a movie... but not a tv movie, and actual movie... maybe a spin-off series too-"

Suddenly, she crashed into a cardboard cutout of one of the ponies, bringing her back to reality.

"Right! I have to continue on to the rest of this attraction," the goth continued to walk. "It's not like my siblings are watching me as my ramble, right?"

 _Cue the obvious answer..._

The other Loud sister-and Lincoln-watched through several monitors as Lucy continued to walk around the attraction, which was fairly linear. She still had a long way to go, though. There was also contraption with the words "emotion machine" written on it.

"With these dozen cameras watching her movement, and the emotion machine verifying Lucy's emotional state every 10 seconds, there's no way she'll be able to trick us!" Lisa boasted, twiddling her fingers. "Now we just need to wait until the emotion meter reaches the "Fear" valve

"Okay, the emotion machine, I can understand," Lincoln said, giving the contraption a look. "But what's up with the cameras?"

"I set them up so we could keep track of Lucy as she walks around the place," Luan casually answered.

"And you have no problem doing this?!" Lincoln snapped at the comedian.

Luan gave Lincoln an "what do you think?" look, prompting him to say, "Note to self: Stop asking stupid questions."

And so, the girls continued to watch Lucy go deeper into the attraction: She saw images of Princess Amore, the alicorn princess, the hippogriffs who served as the first antagonists, and the seven relationships of life, easily the most important magical artifacts in the book's world. And as she walked through all of this and more, the girl clutched her chest as tight as she could, trying to hold her excitement.

Then, she reached the final part of the attraction, the exit was so close to her... and yet, the goth stopped right on her tracks, fell on her knees, and cried.

" _What do I do now?!_ " she quietly, mentally told to her, grabbing and pulling her hair. " _If I don't come out of there looking terrified, my sisters will know something's up! If I come out crying, they're going to question what the heck I saw because this attraction's supposed to scare me, but not drive me to tears! And if I make even one wrong move, they'll find out I secretly like this series! What am I supposed to do?!_ "

Just then, a celestial chord played a harmonious melody as a certain spirit came from the heavens, and flew down until she spoke:

"Rise up, Lucy."

The goth looked up, and the Louds looked in absolute shock at who the figure was. It was none other than Great Grandma Harriet, earning a surprised response from Lucy, and an alarmed response from the other sisters, both of which were a simple exclamation:

"Great Grandma Harriet?!"

The Loud sisters and Lincoln ran out of the room and went to the attraction, while Lucy slowly stood up and dusted herself.

"Yes, sweetheart, it's me, your great grandmother Harriet," the spirit replied with a reassuring smile and nod. "I couldn't help but feel like you were in the middle of some tough stuff. I wanted to see if this was something I could help you with, seeing how last time we met, all I did was cause more trouble."

"No, Harriet, please don't blame yourself, it's all my fault!" Lucy replied, folding her arms behind her back and looking away. "If I hadn't snooped around so much during that fateful day, I probably wouldn't have had my perspective of you or occultism changed forever. I could've... continued to pretend I enjoyed occultism."

The last part caught the spirit's attention. "What do you mean, "pretend you enjoyed it."

"Harriet, if I want to answer that question, and I do, I have to know if I can trust you," Lucy sighed, rubbing her arm as she tried to hold back her tears. "Because I can only answer that question to someone I trust... and I do want to trust you... but after learning about what you did... I just don't know what to think of you anymore..."

"Fair enough, don't tell me then."

The goth flinched and turned to see the spirit of her great grandmother flashing a reassuring smile, before stating:

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want, but at the very least, I want to try and help get you through this... overblown horror attraction your sisters made. So, can you at least tell me how I can help you with that?"

The goth scanned her surroundings, and remember something she promised a long time ago, she stated:

"Not until I've told you what I mean by "pretending" to like the dark stuff."

Harriet chuckled. "I thought you weren't going to tell me anything."

"You kept secrets from me, and when I found out the truth, I was devastated," Lucy formed a pair of fists. "But I also promised you not to do the same mistakes you did. So I might as well be honest while I still have the chance!"

Lucy parted her hair covering her eyes, revealing them to be grey.

"I was only a big fan of occultism and the dark stuff for a short while: After I had my first taste with them, I grew dissatisfied with them. I mean, most of the spells were just for show, the other occultists didn't seem like the nicest or most upbeat of guys, and the dark stuff... either I was bored numb to it, or disgusted at some of the things people did!"

Harriet shook her head and said, "I'm so happy you managed to find that out."

And so, Lucy continued:

"I soon realized I just couldn't keep up with the dark and occult stuff, specially the nonsense that it brought. So, I went to the only thing I could: Something sweet. Something nice. And that something was the princess pony series. Not only could I relax from all the darkness, but the writing in the book series is actually really good! The ponies feel like people, I can actually care about them and their motivations, and it just left me with a good taste on my mouth."

Lucy's happiness was cut short, however, when it came to one memory:

"But by then, it was too late. Everybody just saw as a stereotypical goth, and if they found out I liked the princess pony series, I would've been teased and be considered a freak. So, I kept that part about me hidden for as long as I could, but... right now, I get the feeling I can't hide it anymore-

"Then don't hide it," Harriet suggested.

Lucy flinched and raised an eyebrow as Harriet finished, "Reveal to the world you like that series, and get its weight off your shoulders."

"But great grandma Harriet, if my siblings find out I actually like the Princess Pony series, they're going to the tease me forever!"

"Yeah, so?" Harriet asked, before recapping, "Lori was teased in her school when people found out she has a bad habit of dropping her phone on the bathtub. Leni's always teased because she tends to act like a ditz. Luna was teased in school by some of her peers when it was discovered she liked a teacher. Luan, by virtue of wanting to be a clown, is teased all the time. And we both know everybody teases Lynn whenever she loses, and even when she doesn't, she's teased for her sore winner and sore loser status."

"Well, that's if the person teasing her doesn't mind or outright ignores her wrath afterwards," Lucy replied, looking away.

"Believe me, that number is _huge_. Lynn has a bad habit of making enemies, after all." Harriet continued. "And I'm not done yet! Lana's teased for acting too much like a boy. Lola's teased by beauty pageant participants for being such a brat. Even Lisa's teased because of the ridiculous fact that she's a genius toddler, one of the most ridiculous things you could ever hear."

Lucy looked back at the spirit as Harriet put a hand on her shoulder.

"Need I mention Lincoln? Whether it's Reading comics in his underwear, to liking Ace Savvy, or anything else in general, he's teased 24/7. And yet, every single one of your siblings have managed to move past that teasing. If they could deal with it, then so can you!"

Lucy thought about it, and smiled as she answered:

"I guess, It's worth a shot then."

Harriet nodded, and promptly flew back to the afterlife, leaving Lucy behind to leave the attraction, and face her sisters-and Lincoln-once and for all. Which wasn't so easy when the first thing her sisters did was complain about Lucy's perceived stoic behavior.

"Oh come on, you came out of that without even screaming a little?!" Lola whined, stomping the ground. "Part of the fun of Halloween is either getting scared or scaring people! And even then, there was so much cutesy stuff in there, you should've been a bit terrified!"

"I was scared... On the inside," Lucy meekly answered.

"Internal fear's not as significant or notable as external fear," Lisa pointed out, with the other sisters nodding in agreement. "And seeing how you look exactly the same way as you entered, we can deduce that you're simply lying: You weren't scared in the slightest."

"...That's true," Lucy looked at the ground. "And there's a reason for that."

Lincoln flinched, realizing what the girl was about to reveal, while Lola continued with her complains:

"Yeah, we know, you're used to so much dark stuff that cutesy stuff like this doesn't do anything to you. That's exactly what we needed: You boasting about your fearlessness after coming out of what was supposed to be a scary attraction!"

This prompted Lana to quip, "Lola, why are you projecting yourself on Lucy?"

And the diva gave her twin sister an annoyed glare, before Lucy spoke:

"No, the reason I wasn't scared about the attraction is... because I've seen the stuff in there already... while I read the princess pony series-"

Without warning, Lola punched Lincoln in the face, earning a reaction from everybody.

"Dude, what the hay?!" Luna snapped.

"Aw, come on, don't tell me you don't see it!" Lola replied, folding her arms. "There's only one possible way Lucy would be able to survive reading those disgustingly girly books, and that's if Lincoln had helped her get through each and every one of them!"

"Now that you mention, Lincoln did say a long while back that he read the princess pony series," Luan remarked, scratching her head. "So maybe he really did help Lucy get numb to the whole princess pony stuff-"

"Lincoln has nothing to do with this!" Lucy suddenly corrected, catching her sisters' attention. "He didn't force me to read the books... I read them on my own... I read them on my own for years... because I like the series!"

"Wait, I, like, don't get it," Leni blurted immediately afterwards. "What point are you trying to get across?"

Then, suddenly getting emotional, Lucy revealed:

"I like the princess pony series!"

Everybody gasped, with Leni even saying "audible gasp!" in shock.

"And you know what? Like isn't a strong enough word to describe what I think about this series," Lucy added. "I don't like the princess pony series, I _love_ it!"

Everybody gasped once more, Leni saying "audiblier gasp!" for good measure. And at this point, Lincoln ran to his Gothic sister's side and said, "L-Lucy, I think you should stop talking right now-"

"No, Lincoln, I can't stop now!" the poet vehemently stated. "We all keep secrets in this family, some much harsher than others, but i've only kept this secret because I was scared of how our sisters would react. I was so scared, I made you take the fall for me, and I've never returned the favor since then."

Lincoln frowned. "Lucy..."

To make sure the boy knew she was being serious, Lucy parted the bangs covering her eyes, revealing that she had one bandaged eye, and another one, with a surprisingly light shade of blue in it.

"Lincoln, you stood up for me many times before. Let _me_ stand up for you for once."

The boy nodded, and allowed the girl to walk up to her sisters. Then, she put on a determined look, took a deep breath, and explained:

"You all know me as the darkest, saddest, most depressed person in this household. I look at dark things, like vampires, and read gothic fiction. But there comes a point when I need a break from the darkness, whether because I grow tired of it, or because I start feeling queasy and nervous. So, I decided to go to the princess pony series for comfort, but by then, my reputation was solidified: If you found out, you would've teased me about it, just as you've always done. So, after I told Lincoln about this, he took the fall. He made you think he liked the series, but I'm the one who likes it. I'm the "princess pony lover" of a sort. I like the series, and just because I'm scared of what you guys will think, doesn't mean that justifies me hiding in the corner like a coward."

Lynn could be seen smiling in the background, almost as if she was proud of her little sister.

"So yeah, go ahead! Mock me! Tease me! Joke about it if you want! But I'm tired of lying to myself, and lying to you, and just keeping up this stupid reputation that's done more harm than good to me! I like the princess pony series! I _love_ the princess pony series! And if you have a problem with that, then I don't care! This is something I like, and you don't have the right to make me feel like that's something wrong!"

The sisters were left stunned, but after exchanging looks and being silent for a couple minutes, most of them started to laugh out loud, with the exception of Lynn, who clapped despite her claps being drowned by the laughter. And just as Lucy looked at the ground, feeling like she just made a fool of herself, Lincoln went to her side and stated:

"Come on, guys! Couldn't you wait until we're not out in public before you laughed at Lucy?"

"No, Linky, you're getting it wrong!" Leni said in the middle of the laughing riot. "We're not, like, laughing at _Lucy_ , we're laughing at _ourselves_!"

"That still doesn't-wait, what?"

"Guys, we literally spent hours building this whole attraction!" Lori explained as the laughter died down. "We had to try and survive reading all known books in the Princess Pony series to make the experience as authentic as possible! And we all thought it was going to work!"

"In fact, I did some calculations prior and during construction, and found that there was a small chance that this wouldn't work," Lisa remarked. "And I still joined everybody else in thinking this was going to finally, as my siblings like to say, scare your socks off!"

"And the fact that Lucy's not only not scared of it, but actually likes it, means we did the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do!" Luna added. "Sure, it also makes us a bit angry that our effort was wasted, but it's so hilarious we can't be mad for long."

"Yeah, this was pretty funny," Luan nodded. "In fact, do you mind if I pull a similar trick next Halloween?"

Lucy tilted her head. "So, wait, none of you find the fact that I read the Princess Pony series ridiculous?"

"If by ridiculous you mean ridiculously impressive, then yeah, we totally do!" Lola answered. "I mean, we might've even grown some respect for you: I can't even stand Reading a Princess Pony book for a half hour, and yet you've read all of her available books, and haven't even hurled once!"

"I'm even more unlucky; I can't last five minutes seeing the art before I puke," Lana added with a smile.

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think Lucy's read all of the books?"

"'Cause she could recognize every single detail we put in there, and from which book it came from," Lynn revealed as she walked towards the goth. "And besides, we just said we read all books in the series while we made this. I should know, I took them from your bedroom!"

Lucy and Lincoln flinched as they said in unison, "Wait, that would mean-"

"That I knew all along? Yep, pretty much." Lynn folded her arms. "I mean, Lucy and I share a bedroom, how could I've not noticed until now?"

"Well, considering you're not that impressive in the mental department, I thought I could easily keep my secret in the dark," Lucy replied, seemingly unaware or not caring about angering her athletic sister. "But apparently, I was wrong."

Lynn smiled. "And now you swallowed your fear and showed everybody that the duchess of darkness isn't the stereotypical goth queen everybody thinks you are."

Lynn put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, and with the goth giving her a confused look, Lynn simply gave her a look of approval and a proud grin before stating:

"I'm proud of you, Lucille."

"Oh my gosh, she said her real name!" Lori chirped as the other sisters grew much more excited. "Lynn literally never calls Lucy by her real name unless it's something important!"

With a smile forming on her face, Lucy hugged Lynn, followed by the other siblings joining the hug soon afterwards. And they remained there, even as Lisa pointed something out:

"Wait, we wasted so much time working on this attraction, we forgot to do something for the people coming here!"

Lucy grinned.

"Leave that to me."

 _A couple hours later..._

It was nighttime at the Loud house, and a peculiar pair approached the building. This pair was of Haiku, and her brother, Silas.

"Is this the fabled Loud house?" Silas asked. "Why isn't it vibrating with an intensely loud aura that could burst our ears, like the legends say?"

"You have to learn not to believe all the legends you hear, Silas," Haiku rolled her eyes as she and her brother walked inside. "I mean, you're supposed to be my older brother, for crying out loud!"

"I'm only older than you by 5 minutes, dear sister-"

Suddenly, the most terrifying person imaginable appeared out of nowhere: It was Luan, dressed as the most disturbing imaginable... a chicken!

"Greetings, visitors!" Luan exclaimed dramatically. "Would you like to take a look at our latest princess pony creepyatorium attraction?"

"Princess pony, you say?" Silas inquired, earning a nod from the comedian. "Isn't that the overly sweet and sugary series based around ponies, princess, and ponies that are princesses?"

"Yup! Pretty much!" Luan chirped.

"I know you may think that goths and emos and whatever are scared of everything cute, but that's not true," Silas replied, narrowing his eyes. "Now, if you excuse us-"

"Aw, come on, Silas!" Haiku whined, getting her brother's attention. "Let's give it a shot! I'm pretty sure the Louds have something up their sleeves to make it scary!"

"I always found your enthusiasm a mystery, dear sister," Silas sighed. "But, I guess it's worth a shot."

And so, the siblings went forth to the attraction, where the first thing they saw inside was Lucy, her arms folded behind her back, and with a bell attached to her shirt. Haiku then went forward to her, and they curtsied.

"I heard that you've managed to deal with the Harriet fiasco," Haiku whispered to her friend. "I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah, it took a while, but I managed to survive it," Lucy whispered back. "And now, all that's left for me to do, is face the world as the new me."

With that done, the curtsied finished, and Lucy spoke, "Greetings, visitors, I'm Lucy, and I'll act as your guide through the attraction. You see, certain images can get extremely cutesy for some people's tastes, and being one of the very few people who can handle the cutesy nature of the series, I'll act as both guide and protector for your tastes."

The goth pointed at her bell as Silas reunited with Haiku. "I have a bell attached to me that'll let you know when I'm nearby, just in case you get lost, 'cause if I can be honest with you, this place is... kinda big. Even if the exterior didn't give you that impression."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Lucy," Haiku stated as she and her brother walked past the girl. "I think we can manage-"

Then the duo actually saw the ponies hung up on the Wall, and immediately went cowering back to Lucy, who they hugged as Haiku stated:

"Save us from the overly sweet ponies!"

Haiku gave Lucy a wink, and the girl chuckled as she lead the goths deeper inside, feeling a bit of relief and satisfaction as she was, for the first time ever, content with her fascination with the princess pony series. And as this happened, Harriet watched from the afterlife, with a wide smile on her face as she thought:

" _Lucy... I'm so proud of you..._ "


End file.
